Major hyperacusis

Many of my symptoms have gone and the ones that are left have improved so much I know they will eventually go. The one thing I feel like that hasn't really improved (maybe worse) is the hyperacusis. Maybe it has like improved 5% but still, that is the thing keeping me from doing any living at all. It keeps me in my room because I can't have a conversation, cant do basic thing's like make food. Let alone what I used to do. I would really like to know other people's experience with this symptom

Some symptoms can drag out longer than others.  Tinnitus was one of my last symptoms to go and I still get it sometimes when I'm worn out or stressed (I'm 3 1/2 years out).

 

You might get more responses if you post again with "hyperacusis" in the Subject line.

 

Here's what the Ashton manual says about sensory hypersensitivity which would include hyperacusis:

 

Sensory hypersensitivity. A characteristic feature of benzodiazepine withdrawal is a heightened sensitivity to all sensations - hearing, sight, touch, taste and smell. When extreme, these sensations can be disturbing. One lady had to stop all the clocks in the house because their ticking sounded unbearably loud; many have had to don dark glasses because ordinary light seemed dazzlingly bright. Some find that the skin and scalp becomes so sensitive that it feels as if insects are crawling over them. Heartbeats become audible and there may be a hissing or ringing sound in the ears (tinnitus - see below). Many people complain of a metallic taste in the mouth and several notice strange, unpleasant, smells which seem to emanate from the body. These sensations, including an unpleasant smell (which usually no-one else can detect) have been described in anxiety states in the absence of benzodiazepines. Like insomnia and panics, they are probably reflections of heightened activity in the central nervous system. Such hypervigilance is part of the normal fear and flight response which is damped down by benzodiazepines but undergoes a rebound during withdrawal.

 

These sensations return towards normal as withdrawal progresses, and some people are pleased with the new, seemingly extraordinary, clarity of their perceptions. Only in withdrawal do they realise how much their senses have been obscured by benzodiazepines. One lady described how thrilled she was when she could suddenly see individual blades of grass in her newly bright green lawn; it was like the lifting of a veil. Thus, these sensations need not give rise to fear; they can be viewed as signs of recovery.

 

 

That's sad to hear. But at least it did eventually go and you only suffer with it intermittently. I have come to accept and would be so grateful to just have my tinnitus left. I remember a member here once described how they look at that symptom and it is not as doom and gloom as we once imagine. People who have never touched a benzodiazepine in their life, can suffer with tinnitus.

 

Did you at all have the sensitivity to sounds? I would describe mine as like once sound reaches a certain threshold (or decibel level) my tiny ear muscles cannot comprehend sound anymore for what it is and it becomes extremely painful.

Hi Miller, I have this horrible symptom and equally horrible tinnitus. How long have you been off of benzos?

Hi there. 20 months. It's weird, today I'm actually having a fluttering going on of the tensor tympani muscle. Which as you probably know isn't great, but on the bright side it hasn't fluttered like this for a month or so.

Did you at all have the sensitivity to sounds? I would describe mine as like once sound reaches a certain threshold (or decibel level) my tiny ear muscles cannot comprehend sound anymore for what it is and it becomes extremely painful.

 

Yes - I felt like people were shouting and I could barely stand being in the room with people talking because it was painful.  Same with the television.  All sorts of sounds seemed amplified a hundred times louder than normal.  But this all faded away eventually.

Did you at all have the sensitivity to sounds? I would describe mine as like once sound reaches a certain threshold (or decibel level) my tiny ear muscles cannot comprehend sound anymore for what it is and it becomes extremely painful.

 

Yes - I felt like people were shouting and I could barely stand being in the room with people talking because it was painful.  Same with the television.  All sorts of sounds seemed amplified a hundred times louder than normal.  But this all faded away eventually.

 

When did it go for you? When did the tinnitus start fading also?

Hyperacusis faded after about a year.  Tinnitus was one of my last symptoms to go and it was mostly gone after about 2 years, as I recall.

 

Fingers crossed for all of us.

I have severe light and sound sensitivty. 3.5jaar homebound

Did you at all have the sensitivity to sounds? I would describe mine as like once sound reaches a certain threshold (or decibel level) my tiny ear muscles cannot comprehend sound anymore for what it is and it becomes extremely painful.

 

Yes - I felt like people were shouting and I could barely stand being in the room with people talking because it was painful.  Same with the television.  All sorts of sounds seemed amplified a hundred times louder than normal.  But this all faded away eventually.

 

That's good to hear. Funnily enough in the last few weeks I have noticed quite a big improvement in the hyperacusis. I'm 20 months out. Here to continued healing.

That's good to hear. Funnily enough in the last few weeks I have noticed quite a big improvement in the hyperacusis. I'm 20 months out. Here to continued healing.

 

So glad!! Wishing you much healing!

I have sound / light sensitivity.  To make matters worse there has been major road construction outside my building for months.  Excavators, bulldozers, etc.  I can ear the non-stop beeping of the reverse warning, and jack hammering now as I type this. 

 

On top of that I live in a concrete building and my neighbors upstairs have drilling with a hammer drill for 7 days straight.  They took a break for lunch today just in time for the groundskeeper in the building next door to show up with the leaf blower 

 

Sonic torture.

Right. You don't think how bad everyday sounds are until you cannot tolerate them. Sirens, dog barking, loud music outside, people yelling outside, horns honking...you name it. Dishes clink, the beep of the microwave. It all hurts.